Looking Back: ‘Coasting’ is dangerous (1916)

Harriet Low, a 16-year-old Emma Willard student, was in serious condition in the hospital after suffering injuries in a coasting (bobsledding) accident that left her unconscious for more than 10 hours. This was the most serious of eight coastings that happened on Albany-area streets, leading police Chief James Hyatt to ban coasting on city streets and instructing his officers to make arrests and mete out punishments for repeated offenders who ignored warnings.

Apparently this was quite a problem a century ago. Here’s something that appeared in The New York Sun almost 101 years ago from the Library of Congress.1966:

Approved motorcycle helmets and eye-protection devices would have to be used by all motorcyclists and their passengers in the state starting Jan. 1, 1967, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles. Safety glasses, goggles, face shields and windscreens would qualify to protect eyes. The standards were passed by the Legislature to help reduce the number of motorcycle deaths and injuries.

1991:

Troy rejected the idea of building a new public safety complex where the closed Ahern Apartments stood and would instead revamp the existing State Street building, City Manager Steven G. Dworsky said. As the Troy Housing Authority took the first step toward hiring a lawyer to handle selling the 144-unit project, the city manager revealed that he was no longer interested in purchasing the four buildings. To buy the Ahern property, located between Congress and Ferry streets, would cost the city $11 to $12 million. Instead, Dworsky estimated it would cost $3 to $4 million to renovate the existing structure.